Application of Biosurfactants in the Medical Field

Abstract

It is generally known that both chemical substances and many kinds of microorganism can be used to produce surfactants or surface-active compounds. Surfactants derived from microorganisms are called biosurfactants, or bio-surface active compounds. Recently, biosurfactants have become more interesting because of their advantages, such as less toxicity and more degradability, which cannot be found in traditional surfactants. Biosurfactant production faces some problems, such as a high cost of production. In the medical field, biosurfactants are attractive, because the products from biosurfactants can be used effectively in small amounts. This can compensate for the high cost of production. In addition, there have been many great discoveries of biosurfactants in the medical field.